A warm welcome at Critix' Blog, my dear visitor! I hope you can find helpful reviews of products or services, with all the information you wish to know. Please browse through my blog to check out my reviews, and visit the Disclosure Policy Page to read my Blog Policy, and Contact Information. This blog is meant to review various things, please check my first post for more details.

Saturday, 21 December 2013

What is Micro SD/SDHC/SDXC

Secure Digital (SD) is a non-volatile memory card format for use in portable devices, such as mobile phones, digital cameras, GPS navigation devices, and tablet computers. The Secure Digital standard was introduced in 1999 as an evolutionary improvement over MultiMediaCards (MMC). The Secure Digital standard is maintained by the SD Card Association (SDA). SD technologies have been implemented in more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models.

The Secure Digital format includes four card families available in three different form factors. The four families are the original Standard-Capacity (SDSC), the High-Capacity (SDHC)[Underlined because my review is considering this one :D], the eXtended-Capacity (SDXC), and the SDIO, which combines input/output functions with data storage. The three form factors are the original size, the "mini" size, and the "micro" size. Electrically passive adapters allow the use of a smaller card in a host device built to hold a larger card.

There are many combinations of form factors and device families, although as of 2014, the prevailing formats are full- or micro-size SDHC and full/micro SDXC.

The SDA uses several trademarked logos to enforce compliance with its specifications and assure users of compatibility.

What is Class 10

It is a specification of the SD cards which refers to the speed of SD card. Similar to CDs and DVDs, SD cards have certain rated write speeds. Class 0 cards are those that were designed before the Speed Class Rating was defined by the SD Association. Class 2 SD cards have write speeds of 2 MB per second. Class 4 is 4 Mbps. Class 6 is 6 Mbps, and Class 10 is 10 Mbps and so on.

Class 10 has following features:

High Speed Bus

Full HD video recording>

HD still consecutive recording

Class 10 cards are the second-fastest group of cards.

SanDisk: A reputed name

SanDisk Corporation is an American multinational corporation that designs, develops and manufactures flash memory storage solutions and software. It was founded in 1988 by Dr. Eli Harari, Jack Yuan and Sanjay Mehrotra, non-volatile memory technology experts. The Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company is based in Silicon Valley and has more than half its sales outside the United States. Its products are sold at more than 250,000 retail locations in more than 100 countries. SanDisk became a publicly traded company on NASDAQ in November 1995. As of August 2013, its market capitalization was over US$14 billion.

Price

I bought it in a 'deal of the day' offer, so I paid just 690 INR(i.e., ~12 USD). Yeah, that was quite a great deal that day. But anyways, if you find a deal that is priced reasonably, like -> 16GB SanDisk Class 2 < 16GB SanDisk Class 10 < 32GB SanDisk Class 2
Tests Equipment
The following is what I used to do any speed tests that I support my review with(Hover over to know the specs):

Class 2 Card

Class 10 Card

Mobile Phone

USB

Adapter

Comparison with Class 2

I had a set of data which was ~585MB large. It included small files of ~4.60 MB each. The following images can help you visualize the speed of data transfer. I agree the following data is not good enough for this comparison because for Class 2 I have shown read and for Class 10 write data, but still, I hope you know that read speeds are higher than write speeds, which certainly imply how cool a Class 10 card is! So I'd rather say, the data is great, not just good :P Check out the read speed of Class 2 card:

The same data being written back to the Class 10 card(SanDisk Ultra in this case)

From the above data, it is evident that there is a considerable increase in speed of data transfer. If we take the above data only, you can consider the following table to see the improvement in speed:

Class 2

Class 10

Improvement

8.9375 MB/s

25.73 MB/s

187.88%

Phew! that is a nice improvement, isn't it? :D

Speed

In the following pics you can see the data transfer rate for a heavy file, ~3GB large. The data transfer is not through a card adapter this time, but the card is inside my phone and the data transfer is going on via Micro-USB cable

In the following pics I have again shown pics of the files I used to compare class 2 and class 10 card, now their transfer back to computer, but this time the card is not in the adapter, but inside my phone, so now data is being transferred through a Micro-USB cable

The above data shows that inside my phone the speed of card has reduced significantly. But still in comparison to my class 2 card, I'd say it's still a much better performer. I guess my phone's MicroSD car BUS is not compliant for class 10 data transfer rates. But anyways, the card is working fine! :P And also it is evident that the speed is quite high for both flash transfers and wire transfers.

Packaging

The packaging is seriously amazing. I have included snaps of my card so that you can see the original packaging. Also I have included a pic that shows opened packaging for further clarification.

You can see that the packaging is really good. A card casing with fine prints of terms :P and some relevant and irrelevant information.

SanDisk Memory Zone: Android Application

I'd call it a wrong claim and a right claim. Why mixed expressions? Well quite simple! It has a mark that redirects us to the fine printing on the back of the packaging, that states the applications needs to be downloaded! Phew :/

Though I have already downloaded and checked the application. This applications is quite cool. The interface is good and the app is cool too. But a problem that I faced was that, on testing the speed of my card, the application failed to detect that I am using a class 10 card :P LOL!

SanDisk Memory Zone offers you more memory management functionality than any other application available for the Android™ phone. SanDisk Memory Zone puts you in complete control. Manage and backup both your local and cloud memory with one free app. Move files back and forth from your memory card to select cloud services, or from the cloud directly to your phone. Cloud services supported: Box, Dropbox, Google Docs, Picasa, SugarSync, SkyDrive and Facebook. SanDisk Memory Zone not only allows you to transfer and back up your files, it also allows you to secure them through a password protection feature. So you have the peace of mind knowing your videos, photographs, music and other files are not only available, but they’re available only to you.

Adapter

The bundled adapter appears to be of good quality and well what can I say about it now? It is just another Mirco SD Card adapter! :O I am not sure if there's anything really special about it!

Warranty

5 year limited warranty. No issues as yet so nothing I can say about this one.

Verdict

Yeah, that's 4.5 out of 5 stars. Why not 5 on 5 for this beauty? Well because the App didn't recognise that I was using a Class 10 card >_< and also the card fits into the slots a bit too tightly than the normal Class 2 ones, so it is tedious to remove them once they are placed, which becomes a scary experience(it might break! :O)
Overall, it is a good card and a worth-full purchase if you get a nice deal. For cameras and video recording this is something you really need for the good recording of your 1080p HD Videos.
So if you think that, "SHOULD I REALLY BUY A CLASS 10 CARD": As mentioned above if you wish to record HD Videos(1080p) then you need one. If you have a huge amount of data being transferred between your Micro SD Card and computer, then also Class 10 card would be a appropriate choice. Else if you get it in the cost of a class 2/4/6 :P

And if you read this review just to know whether or not Class 10 is a worthy investment: Well, in simple words, IT IS MORE THAN THAT! :) GO FOR IT!!

Saturday, 14 December 2013

Hey everyone!
Today I am going to review a free Anti Virus which according to me is the best FREE security solution right now. I am talking about Avast! Don’t worry; it’s no longer the lazy music player, avast! has evolved a great deal and is currently a great option to go for.

Security being a big concern these days and inflation being a super big problem burning holes, no not holes, digging pits in our pockets, I guess we are looking for free security solutions. We tend to go for pirated or cracked ones without thinking much about the problems that may surface due to cracked software use. Without delving into details, I would just like to warn you, cracked software might not be safe. They may be, but in most cases they are not. They are known to contain backdoors, spyware and adware software that are all potential malware. If you think uploading that file to virustotal.com gives you a sure shot idea of the fact whether they are good or bad, I must say, YOU ARE WRONG! It is very easy to encrypt an infected file and bypass the security checks of most security suites. So it is better to stay away from using cracked software.

Anyways, our topic of discussion is something else. It is to review avast! and not to give you nice enough speech on Piracy and how bad it is :P I downloaded avast! a few months back when my Kaspersky subscription got over. I thought to come back to Kaspersky or BitDefender at a later stage, but after using avast! for a couple of weeks I’d say, “Although BitDefender and Kaspersky are unchallengeable when it comes to security, but when you use a free antivirus which is quite good you don’t find a good reason to go back to a paid solution. Atleast when you are simple home user.” So I am continuing to use avast!, atleast as long as I don’t find myself unsafe with it. Believe me, the reviews on the Internet and my own personal experience suggests I won’t go back to a paid solution! :D Though, I am in a need of a Firewall now so I am going to upgrade to Avast Internet Security soon.

Looking to compete with both paid and free security suites, Avast wants to create a unified approach to your computer security. Long gone are the days of the quirky interface. Avast is accessible and robust, with an impressive list of free features and strong, though hardly stellar, performance benchmark.

avast! Free Antivirus provides constant virus protection, also called on-access or resident protection, for free. This means that avast! Free Antivirus can completely replace antivirus software from companies like McAfee and Norton that charge for their software and for yearly access to updates.

Pros

Provides on-access protection from viruses and other malware

Includes a "heuristics engine" to detect previously unknown threats

Includes a silent mode to hide alerts during gaming and other full-screen activities

Long history of excellent virus protection

Works with Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP

Super Good Looking Interface! :D

Cons

Cannot be used in commercial environments - home use only

Attempts to install unrelated (but safe) software

Registration is periodically[YEARLY] required but it is free

Installation

During the avast! installation, you're asked to install the free Google Chrome browser and IE toolbar. These additions are not required so if you're not interested just uncheck the boxes. Also, you are required to register avast! to use it more than 30 days but registration is free and pretty simple. You'll also have to re-register once per year - again, for free.

Steps:

Download avast! by clicking the image below:

Run the file downloaded. And follow the simple steps (a little explanation below) to go through the installation process. It would take less than 3 minutes to install it and a minute to register, thus around 4 minutes to get going!

Make sure you uncheck Google Chrome and Google Toolbar installations if you don’t wish to install them since they are not required by avast! for installation.

If you use a booster SSD and want to conserve space on it, you may change the destination of installation, though I recommend not changing it.

The setup offers so many language options that you can tailor the interface language to your familiar one. Thus no boundation to use English only. If you can find a more familiar language you can go for it!

You can read the EULA to make sure you know what terms you agree. You must always read it for all software though I know you all never do. :P

If you use a smartphone, you can also download avast! mobile security for it. It has tonnes of cool features including mobile tracking and other features to prevent information theft. Though some features are paid but most cool ones are free to use, so do consider using it. The best thing is that, you can use same avast account to register that device too! So do install it on your smartphone.

Make sure you do register which takes less than a minute and you will enjoy a full year protection for free!! And once the year is over, all you have to do is register again FOR FREE! Cool, right? All updates, support etc. just register once per year and you are good to go! :D

What do popular websites say?

About.com

avast! is so great because it's a complete tool, protecting you from threats from the Internet, email, your local files, P2P connections, your instant messages, and more. avast! Free Antivirus 8 from AVAST Software is one of the best free antivirus software programs you can download.

PCMag

If avast!'s very good malware cleanup doesn't recognize a suspicious file, its built-in automatic sandboxing can keep that file from doing harm. It's one of several good choices for free antivirus protection, with unusual bonus features like Web reputation reporting and built-in remote assistance.

PCPro

The cream of the crop of free antivirus tools, with great protection, plenty of features and an exceedingly light touch

CNET

When it comes to your security, Avast 8 gets a lot right. It's got a usable, uncluttered interface, solid although not stellar benchmarks, and a set of features that keeps it at the forefront of Windows security. Avast Antivirus 8 Free continues to be a stellar choice for free Windows security, and we enthusiastically recommend it. Few people want security that turns a good machine into the malware equivalent of Swiss cheese, and on that count, Avast has your back. Avast 8 fixes browsers, out-of-date apps (too).

Straight from the horse’s mouth: What Avast has to say about Avast!

Our flagship Avast Free Antivirus is here again. We've made improvements to its Behavior Shield and Remote Assistance, improved the cloud technologies and the energy-saver settings. And we've simplified the UI and added a Software Updater for easily keeping the eye on all your potential vulnerabilities. Plus, there's an optional Browser Cleanup tool for removing pesky toolbars and plugins.

My Verdict

If you are sticking to Windows XP until 2014 when Microsoft will end it’s support, Avast is the best choice to stick with. Security Essentials failed in my tests when I tried to experiment my encrypted malware, rather most of the free ones failed. Though avast wasn’t bypassed by that, nor Avira/AVG. But avast! is lighter and cooler than Avira/AVG, so I’d say go for avast!. Most of the reviews by users and editors suggest it being good and my own experience with this FREE security solution has been too good to not to use it :D And just in case you don’t feel secure in free hands, then I’d say go for BitDefender or Kaspersky.
The link to download avast! follow. I hope my review helped you all. I included popular websites’ verdicts so that you guys could have more faith in my review :P Avast! is quite a good solution and I would say if you want a free solution just download it now!
Just click the image below to download avast! for free Don’t worry it is completely legal, free and safe to use!